The cost of helping an unemployed person to find a job is €537,000 for each successful placement, according to figures from a special think-tank on urban problems.

Last year local authorities were given some €1.5bn to help the jobless reintegrate into the workforce.
Of the 90,000 people who attended a special reintegration programme, 21,000 found work, according to figures from the job centre.
But most of them found a job by themselves and only 3% were placed with companies by job centre officials, the figures show. And women, young people and the older unemployed were actually less likely to find a job through the programme than by themselves.
Waste of money
The reintegration scheme is ‘a waste of money,’ said Groningen University professor Jouke van Dijk, who is a member of the CSI think-tank, in Thursday’s Volkskrant. ‘It stops people actively looking for work themselves.’
The paper says the social affairs ministry concluded in January that integration programmes are not effective.
At the time, junior social affairs minister Ahmed Aboutaleb said there was progress if unemployed people were following a course rather than sitting at home.
According to the Telegraaf, the money available needs to be better spent to fill the 240,000 current vacancies on the jobs market.
Parliament is due to discuss reintegration schemes today.